Blog|Garden Plants>perennials Archives - Summer-Dry | Celebrate Plants in Summer-Dry Gardens

23 01, 2025

Learning to Love Lomandras

Learning to Love Lomandras

jeffreyeric2025-01-23T10:35:43-08:00Categories: Blog|Garden Plants>perennials|Tags: nora harlow|perennials|

I long resisted the siren call of lomandras as these evergreen, grasslike plants increasingly appeared in highly regimented commercial landscapes and city medians. They are, after all, decidedly not native to North America's Pacific coast, the flower spikes are often disturbingly spiny-looking and messily ungrasslike, and the most commonly seen lomandras can seem too perfect in both form and color to be real. Lomandra longifolia Watching these plants develop into full form over several years, I searched for incipient tendencies to spread, to flop, or to lose their attractive form or color. Nowhere did they change much over

23 01, 2025

Hesperaloe

Hesperaloe

jeffreyeric2025-01-23T10:34:40-08:00Categories: Blog|Garden Plants>perennials|Tags: shrubs|

Hesperaloe parviflora Hesperaloe parviflora is a handsome architectural plant, as effective singly in large pots as in mass plantings geometrically arranged in the ground. It is equally pleasing in a naturalistic mixture of succulents, grasses, or other dry-garden plants. An evergreen plant with long, narrow, gracefully arching foliage, hesperaloe grows three to four feet tall and spreads six or more feet wide by rosettes so closely spaced that they seem to be part of the same plant. The leathery dark green leaves are spineless with distinctive white threadlike fibers along the margins. Sprays of pink or pinkish coral

23 01, 2025

Perovskia

Perovskia

jeffreyeric2025-01-23T10:34:40-08:00Categories: Blog|Garden Plants>perennials|Tags: perennials|

Perovskia atriplicifolia Russian sage (Perovskia atriplicifolia) is a deciduous woody perennial or subshrub with strongly scented gray-green leaves, silvery gray mostly upright stems, and masses of tiny lavender-blue to deep blue flowers on tall spikes from summer through fall. A fine-textured plant two or three feet tall and wide with an open, airy habit, perovskia is content in full sun with only occasional deep summer watering. It thrives in almost any soil type, including clay, but must have decent drainage; it sulks and rots where drainage is poor, especially in rainy winters. Native to rocky steppes of southwestern

23 01, 2025

Salvias

Salvias

Salvia officinalis with oregano in background There are sages (Salvia) for almost any garden. Annuals, perennials, or shrubs; low and spreading to tall and upright; sun or shade loving; moist or dry soils or anywhere in between. If you are unsure what a particular sage needs, look it up or consult your nursery professional before adding it to your garden. One of the most reliable low-water sages for full sun is Cleveland sage (Salvia clevelandii), and one of the best varieties is ‘Winifred Gilman’. The spikes of bright lavender-blue to purple flowers in early summer are memorable, especially

23 01, 2025

Penstemons

Penstemons

Penstemon x gloxiniodes 'Maurice Gibbs' It’s easy to see why penstemons are so popular with gardeners everywhere. Their tubular or trumpet-shaped flowers, usually on tall spikes, put on a brilliant show from late spring until fall. Flower color ranges from shades of purple to red, blue, white, yellow, or pink, often with contrasting markings at the base. Hummingbirds and butterflies are drawn to them. Some penstemons are tall and upright, excellent in the mixed border; others are low mats perfect for the rock garden; and still others are sprawling mid-size mounds. All need good to excellent drainage, but

23 01, 2025

Lavenders

Lavenders

jeffreyeric2025-01-23T10:31:34-08:00Categories: Blog|Garden Plants>perennials|Tags: nora harlow|perennials|

Masses of Lavandula 'Provence' draw the eye toward a pot and distant sculpture Lavenders are so at home in California that it’s hard to believe they’re not native here. Lavenders have green to grayish green or silvery gray, narrow, softly toothed or smooth margined aromatic leaves and upright stems of tubular lavender, purple, pink, or white flowers. There are many species and dozens of named varieties in the trade. The best known and most widely grown is English lavender (Lavandula angustifolia), a woody perennial subshrub, two to three feet tall and four feet wide, with long, narrow, silvery

23 01, 2025

Irises

Irises

Pacific Coast iris 'Copper' flowering in garden with Euphorbia dulcis 'Chameleon' Plants that are dormant or not actively growing during the hottest months are well adapted to summer-dry climates, including many California natives. Irises, both native and not, are a beautiful choice. Iris douglasiana hybrid Douglas iris (Iris douglasiana) forms an upright clump of sword-shaped or grasslike green leaves, mounding and spreading with age by underground rhizomes. Flowers are blue-violet, deep purple, or occasionally white, often two or three on each upright stem in late winter to mid-spring. Native to coastal California and Oregon, this Pacific

Blog|Garden Plants>perennials

Learning to Love Lomandras

Hesperaloe

Perovskia

Salvias

Penstemons

Lavenders

Irises

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